Misty Shades Of Grey
by WolfBane2
Summary: When a certain bandit returns to claim what was never rightfully his to begin with, Robin's beliefs about villains are torn. Question is, which is more important: A debt being repaid on a leap of faith, or a villain captured on common sense? (one-shot)


Brrrr-AAANG! Brrrr-AAANG! A soft alarm sounded in Robin's ear. Instantly the teenage crime fighter's head snapped up, hair mussed from sleep. He sprang nimbly out of his bed, instantly landing in a defensive crouch on the bare wood floor. His ears strained to hear any sounds of disturbance within the tower, searching for the area under attack.  
  
When no sound but the quiet blaring of Robin's personal alarm broke the night's silence, Robin's eyes flicked to the wall beside his bed. Among various fighting staffs hung the small device that was causing the foghorn sounds of warning that the tower had been intruded.  
  
The Titans leader leapt up out of the defensive position and snatched the handheld alarm system (another creation of Cyborg's handiwork). He punched several buttons on the miniscule keyboard, then typed in a password to acess the status of every area in Titans Tower. The name of one area glowed a stop-sign red. Something was moving through the air ducts that led to Cyborg's basement tech lab.  
  
Robin watched as the movement halted in one particular part of the vents. Furiously, he typed in a request for the locations of all highly-secured items in Cyborg's lab. The results flashed back to him, and Robin took a sharp intake of breath.  
  
The thief had stopped directly above the small vault in the wall that held X's belt. Only one person would have any use for that particular object.  
  
The teenage hero's lip curled in a grim smile. "I was wondering when you would be back." Robin murmured.  
  
Red X. The bandit was back.  
  
Robin had been in a lot of fights before. Kicked a lot of villain butt. Before he met X, the black-haired teenager had never really thought about the bad guys as anything but...well, the bad guys. They were like wasps: If they sting you, you squash them. If they sting somebody else, you squash them. If they poison you, you still squash them, no matter what was necessary to do so.  
  
He'd never thought of WHO the villains were, only WHAT they were and what their intentions were. They weren't people, they didn't have feelings or dreams beyond villainy. They weren't capable of realizing right from wrong.  
  
It used to be simple. Everything that Robin defended: Peace, humanity, civilization, justice. It was all white, all of it pure. Everything the Titans defended were the victims, the innocent sheep being slaughtered by the cruel wolves that represented the villains that threatened the city.  
  
Wolves. Black wolves. That's how Robin had thought of them, of all of them. No exceptions. Snarrling, vicous, bloodthirsty wolves that did not think of anything except their next kill.  
  
But a week ago, Robin's mind had been troubled by these same thoughts. So he asked Beast Boy what being a wolf was like (for if Beast Boy couldn't answer his question, no one could). Beast Boy had told him that the body was far more powerful, stronger and more agile and tough then a weak human body. But the mind was not very different at all.  
  
Wolves did not slaughter simply to kill. They were not, according to Beast Boy, ruthless butchering machines. Wolves sought only weak or sick prey. While wolves and other predators killed the sick or injured, the strong prey animals lived to breed and create strong calves or fawns. These strong animals lived, and bred bigger, faster deer that had a better chance of survival then a weaker fawn. It was the circle of life. The weak fed the strong, the strong lived to produce stronger creatures. The way life had been for many years. The way life was today.  
  
But wolves had organization. They had ranks in their packs: Alpha, the leaders. Beta, second in command. Those between Beta and Omega, the regular pack. Omega, lowest of the low.  
  
And if Beast Boy was correct, wolves also cared for their fellow pack members. They licked the wounds of their colony wolves, and fed the sick wolves who could not hunt. Yes, they would kill invaders on their territory if the invaders would not submit to their alpha. But the pack took care of each other.  
  
So wolves weren't as terrible and inhumane as Robin had thought. Just like the villains. Just like X.  
  
Now Robin understood what Beast Boy had been trying to tell him after their encounter with Thunder and Lightning. Somehow, Beast Boy had broken through to Thunder, and he to his brother. Beast Boy had shown the villain that powers could be used for good instead of evil, that there was another path besides the hard life of a crook. How Beast Boy had done this, Robin did not know, maybe would never fully understand.  
  
When Beast Boy had first told him, Robin did not care, either. He hadn't believed that villains had enough feelings within them that they could see the difference between wrong and right. But somehow Beast Boy had done it. Now Thunder and Lightning were allies to the Titans. Granted, somewhat unpredictable allies, but allies to call on none the less.  
  
But Robin still hadn't believed villains were anything but killers and thieves.  
  
Then there had been Cyborg's undercover mission to the Hive Academy about a month ago. Cyborg had pulled it off, he hadn't been sucked into the Blood's hypnotic gaze like the rest of the Hive. Thank God for half a mechanic brain. But Cyborg hadn't come away from his encounter with Blood's school unscathed. Physically, perhaps, but not mentally.  
  
He had seen into the hearts of their enemies. Unknowingly, the hex witch Jinx had shown one of her foes into the lives of the Hive students. And Cyborg, under the code name Stone, had found out that there are two sides to every story.  
  
According to him, it wasn't really that different from a boarding school. Hive students rotated classes, based on every subject from Hypnosis to Camoflage to Weaponry. During lunch they goofed off and seperated into social groups like any high school kids. You had your snobby kids, your smart kids, your athletic kids, your popular kids, your not-popular kids, your weird kids, and your loners. All with various terrifying powers, but still teenagers. Like the Titans. Some actually a couple years younger then the Titans.  
  
And after school hours were over, the Hive students went back to the three underground dorm houses beside the school. Amazing how much you can fit under the earth's surface. And they dated, and had their friends, and had their enemies. Just like regular high school students.  
  
Cyborg had not realized until then how much he missed having a regular life. Just a boring, average life as a muscular black teenager going to high school. Being stupid with your friends, checking out cute girls, moaning about the load of homework your teachers gave you. Some people wanted so much more then this in their life, but as Cyborg had told Robin, "What could you get that's much better then good old boring life?"  
  
He said it had been...nice. Having an average life again, even if it was at a school for villains. Being accepted. Robin had heard the strings of regret in Cyborg's voice, and he understood them. It had been awhile since anyone had considered Cyborg a normal guy. The Titans accepted him as their friend, but they weren't the same thing. They were great friends, Cyborg had assured Robin guiltily, but somehow it just wasn't the same thing as having a normal life.  
  
And Robin knew he was right. None of them had been average for a long time.  
  
But Raven, BB, and Starfire hadn't ever been average kids, so they couldn't miss it because they had never experienced it. Personally, Robin never wanted to look back on his junior high days. But Cyborg had been normal up until 9th grade (Author's Note: This is MY story so I can say he got turned into a cyborg when I want him to. Please continue) and Robin knew he missed his days as being a fairly popular, atheletic guy. And only that. Although Cyborg would swallow a stove whole before admitting it.  
  
There was something else, too. Robin somehow knew that in his stay with the Hive students, Cyborg had developed a certain sympathy for them. Sort of a reverse version of Stockholm Syndrome, the hidden predator feeling sorry for the prey. The students were brainwashed. If they were freed and had full control over their minds and were to realize what they were learning was not right...what would they do then? Perhaps the Titans would never know.  
  
And although Cyborg had refused to tell much about his encounters at the Hive with Jinx, Mammoth, and Gizmo, Robin heard the slight twang in his voice whenever he mentioned her. Even though Robin had never been much of one to have crushes (excluding a certain red-haired Tamaranian), he knew that his half-robot friend had developed a fondness for the hex witch.  
  
Jinx was...odd-looking, that was to be sure. Esepically her eyes. Huge, huge eyes, with pupils that made them resemble cat eyes far more then human eyes. And was it his mistake, or were her canine teeth sharper then an average girl's? Robin remembered what she had said before joining her friends and Blood in escape from the collapsing Hive building:  
  
"You could have been one of us." This had been said with a fair amount of shock, perhaps the witch was surprised anyone would abandon being the Hive Academy's top student. Or maybe...maybe she too understood the loneliness of being very, very different, and the relief of finding people like you. But this had not been said with any anger, mostly just shock. And a tinge of sadness.  
  
"I could have been a lot of things." Had been Cyborg's response. It had been said in a low, heavy voice. Definetely regretful. But again, with no anger. And in this small statement, Cyborg had given up his chance at a nearly normal life again to rejoin the Titans. But not without a heavy heart.  
  
Oh well, that was in the past now. Cyborg was back with the Titans. But somehow, Robin knew his friend would never be quite the same. That flash of sadness in his human eye whenver they passed a bunch of high school teens goofing off would not vanish anytime soon.  
  
When Cyborg had confided all this to Robin, the Titans leader still hadn't believed villains could be ok people. To Robin, there were no shades of grey. There was only black and white, evil and good.  
  
But then someone had stolen the Red X suit. And everything had changed.  
  
"I don't want to take over your precious city, kid. I just look out for Number One." The words rang back to the teenage crime fighter as if they had been spoken only minutes ago. Whoever had stolen the X suit was pretty cheeky, whoever he was. Stubborn, too. Robin hadn't had a battle like the one in the chemical laboratory for quite some time, not since Slade had taken him as apprentice. To be honest, Robin had enjoyed it. A good fight got the andrenaline pumping, a natural high that made you feel super-human.  
  
It was mainly luck X had woken up from the blows of the androids sent to capture the chemical after Robin did. It was simple matter for Robin to cage the unconcsious Red X with one of his belt weapons (he'd have to remember to thank Cyborg for impressing upon him the importance of carrying something as seemingly stupid as a Portable Cage) But obviously X was smarter then he sounded, as the thief had obviously been able to break out of the device with ease in plenty of time to follow Robin to the chemisist's secret lab.  
  
Which brought Robin back to the biggest question of all: Why? Why had Red X done it? Why had he saved Robin from a fall that would have killed the teenage hero? Why in bloody hell would a villain do that?  
  
The only reason Robin could think of was completely unacceptable to his opinions of the bad guys, but there was no other reason: That X had a heart. That the rude thief could not allow himself to stand by and watch someone fall to their death. That he was human after all.  
  
It was crazy! It was silly, a simple wish that should have been overpowered by reality. But somehow X had found it in himself to save the person who had been trying so hard to stop the thief from getting what he wanted.  
  
Maybe X had felt...guilty? Guilty he had stolen the suit? No, that was even stupider. But then why? Why had he saved Robin's life intentionally? It made no sense, no sense at all. Robin liked things clean cut and obvious. Point A to Point B. Black and white. Sharp and elegant as a crystal dagger. But this didn't fit into those categories in the least.  
  
And then Red X had helped to kicked the robots and mad scientist's butt. But at least that one was something Robin could figure out: Red X had figured he already had the one vial of the chemical that he needed, why not get rid of the others. But still, any self-respecting villain would have appreciated the chaos and helped it happen, not help his enemy stop it.  
  
And as if his mind wasn't confused enough, one more thing bothered Robin. "Thought you didn't like playing the hero." The bandit's response to this was strange:  
  
"Doesn't mean I don't know how to." Did that mean he had played the hero before? Had the person who had stolen the Red X suit once been a fellow hero? His voice didn't sound that much older then Robin's, perhaps 20 years old or so.  
  
Well, the person had to be skilled at breaking and entering, to have unlocked the computer lock, fooled the thumb print scanner, and avoided the lasers that had guarded the suit before it was stolen. How had he known about the suit, anyway? The only people who knew about it to Robin's knowledge before the robbery was Slade and Robin, and this person was definetely not Slade. Perhaps they worked for him?  
  
But then, the question comes up again: Slade's mission is to kill the Titans now. All the Titans. So WHY had Red X saved him?!?  
  
Robin thought, 'I'll probably never know.'  
  
When Robin had snatched Red X's belt in the middle of the fight, quietly so the robber did not notice until the end, the black-haired teen had done so with a strange reluctance. He'd never hesitated to bring down a villain before. Even Terra had earned little sorrow from him (although plenty from Beast Boy).  
  
But then again, a villain had never saved Robin's life before, either.  
  
For the first time since he became a Titan, doubt had crossed Robin's mind. He had a debt to the thief, like it or not. Maybe he shouldn't have taken the belt. That would have settled the score. But leaving Red X his powers would have dangerous to him and his teammates, for they had all seen the power of the suit.  
  
When X had realized that he had the chemical, but no belt to activate it with, the thief had automatically shifted to the position of a creature who had been run into a corner and is ready to fight. He lowered himself like a wolf squaring its limbs to prepare for a desperate attack. That was pretty much his whole body message right then: I'm not giving up. You may be bigger then me, you may scare me, you may make me run away. But if I have to, I am willing to fight.  
  
Robin had admired that. It takes courage to still be attacking when everything is hopeless on your side. But X wasn't stupid. He knew that without the Red X devices the Titans could beat him. So he'd done what he had to: He jumped.  
  
But Robin had known he wasn't dead. If the jump was going to kill him, he would not have jumped at all. Better to leave your enemy a few scars to remember if there's no way out. Better to go down fighting to the death then surrender. Never surrender.  
  
So now the bandit was back, back to reclaim the thing he had stolen from them to begin with. He was cutting a whole through the air vent into the metal vent with a laser pen. But if Robin hurried, he could still get to the Technology lab in time to blow up the vent and throw Red X into the open. True, the thief would have the belt, but this was the Titan's Tower, their home turf. They would win. The only question was, should he?  
  
Should he blow the whistle on the stubborn bandit who fought valliantly and had saved his life? There was the debt to consider. But there was something else, what Beast Boy and Cyborg had tried to tell him.  
  
That not all villains are 100 percent evil. That some of them have never experienced humanity, so how could they know what they do is wrong? That some villains only need to be shown there is another way.  
  
Besides, if Red X did not manage to slip out of the Titans reach once again, Robin would lose one hell of a fighting opponent.  
  
But it was his responsibility to keep the city safe! What if Red X's robberies involved killing the people who got in his way? And he couldn't allow this person to steal from whoever he chose just because X had saved his life! That's crazy! He had to alert the other Titans and stop whoever was inside the Red X suit once and for all!  
  
And, staring at the device in his hand, Robin made his decison.  
  
He pushed the Mute button on the alarm and hung the device back on the wall, ignoring the fact it was blinking red because someone had just snatched X's belt from the vault and was escaping through the air vents at that very moment.  
  
Robin climbed back into his bed. For awhile, he stared at the cracks in the ceiling above him and thought about the thief. The plucky, stubborn, rude bandit who had shown him that even villains could have a heart full of courage. That there is no black and white when it comes to good and evil in the real world, only a misty shade of grey. And he had a message for X.  
  
'My debt has been repaid.'  
  
Author's Note: Ok I started writing this immediately after seeing the Teen Titans episode "X", and finished it around midnight. I hoped you liked it, if you didn't, that's ok. I didn't write this for anybody else, I wrote it for me. Besides, I promised my friend Libby I'd finish it once I told her the basic idea. So review, flame, whatever. This authoress is tired. 


End file.
